Buffalo Chicken Bites

It’s football season and I’m ready for some party food! Let’s take a quick time out from baby food posts, shall we? We had friends over this week for Monday Night Football and I immediately knew I had to try these Buffalo Chicken Bites that I had bookmarked. I also knew that if they turned out as good as I thought after reading about them on Stephanie and Melissa’s blogs, then these were going to instantly become a favorite – or should I say a staple – for our football parties. And wouldn’t you know, I was definitely right on this intuition.

One of the best things about this appetizer, is you can prepare these in the morning and keep them in the fridge until ready to bake. Or, make them days ahead and freeze them! If you freeze them, just bake them for about 5 minutes longer. (Yes, I even tested it!)

Stephanie, from Macaroni and Cheesecake, was brilliant for baking them instead of frying, which is the method I went with since they still end up crispy. Additionally, I decided to dip them in crushed Corn Flakes cereal rather than bread crumbs, since it works so well for my favorite Chicken Strips. I’m glad I made this change because the Corn Flakes add a crunchy texture and a sweet flavor.

If you love the taste of buffalo sauce, I recommend adding more of the hot sauce to the recipe. The original calls for only 1/4 cup, but I found myself adding at least 1/2 cup and could still possibly use a little more. My changes are reflected in my adaptation of the recipe below.

Dip these puppies in ranch or blue cheese dressing for a finishing touch. If you make these, I’ll guarantee the football game will be much more enjoyable and you’ll have everyone inviting themselves over for the next game!

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix the chicken, cream cheese and hot sauce until combined. Stir in the cheddar cheese and green onions.

Using a small cookie or ice cream scoop, spoon out the chicken mixture and roll into about 1 1/2 inch balls. Place on a plate or separate baking sheet (not lined) until ready to dip.

In three separate bowls, set out the flour, eggs and Corn Flakes. Dip each chicken ball first into the flour, then the egg and ending with the Corn Flakes. Place on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm with ranch or blue cheese dressing.

**If freezing for later, place the dipped and uncooked chicken balls onto the parchment lined baking sheet and flash freeze for 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a freezer bag and store in the freezer until ready. To bake, place the frozen chicken balls back on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350?F for 25 to 30 minutes, until crispy and golden brown.

Gosh, I made sure to count them when I made them the first time, and totally forgot the number! 🙁 But, as I think about it and rack my brain, I’m pretty sure it was around 48. I’m making them again soon, so I’ll definitely count them again!

Just made these tonight, awesome! I made the balls a little bigger and the recipe yielded 30 balls so if you made them smaller I could definitely see 48 being possible 🙂 I also used crushed fiber one cereal instead of cornflakes and egg beaters instead of eggs to make them a little healthier.

WOW! These. Taste. Amazing! I’ve been making the dip version for years (same recipe, -batter,) but what a great twist to make them into balls with a crunchy shell! I discovered them while browsing Pinterest and it was love at first site. I made them for dinner last night – HUGE HIT – then packed some in my kids’ lunches today.

Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. I will be making it often. 🙂

P.S. For the dip, I’ve always used 1 lb. of chicken breast fillets, pre-boiled for about 15 minutes. That’s what I used for the bites.

I post what I pack in my kids’ lunches on my blog, so when I post this week’s lunches on Friday, I’ll be sure & link the pic back to this page. I just know that people will WANT this recipe! Just FYI. 😉

My coworkers and I bring goodies in on the 1st Monday of each month and I brought these in. Needless to say, your recipe was shared and the buffalo balls were devoured! Everyone raved, went home and made them for their spouses, who also raved! Thanks for sharing this wonderful treat with us!

Hello! I found this on Pintrest and I made them the other night. They are awesome. I used Panko instead of corn flakes because I didn’t want the sweet flavor, though. I will say that I had to put the bowl of chicken mix up overnight and it was much easier to make into balls after that. Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I have more in the freezer for an appetizer to pizza later on. I’m looking forward to it!

This is great! I was looking for something new to make along the Buffalo chicken line. I need an appetizer for my MOPS group service project night on Thursday night. This is exactly what I had in mind and I’m excited to make it. My hubby LOVES Frank’s too so hopefully I’ll have some left for my mom’s night.

BTW, I subscribed to your feed too. I’m a pro photog mom too so I was having a good time looking briefly through your shots. Incorporating food and photography is great!

I made these for a school Christmas party yesterday. The kids LOVED them!! I brought some home for my hubby though…is the best way to reheat them in the oven on a low temp?
By the way, I made another batch again tonight for another Christmas party tomorrow!! They are fabulous! 🙂

I’ve made these twice and both times were a hit! I was getting the chicken ready to go to put them together for a Christmas party tomorrow, right now only thing that is mixed is the chicken and shredded cheese….I randomly decided to throw in a half teaspoon of garlic powder as thought it would go well and give them a little extra flavor but now I’m worried I ruined them or it won’t go well with the cornflake crumbs or something. Thought?? I’m debating on blotting with a paper towel to try to get some off now, lol

haha! Well, I might be too late with my response, but I don’t think you need to worry too much. I probably would’ve started with just 1/4 teaspoon of the garlic powder, though. I’m curious how they ended up tasting for you. We all have our moments of wanting to add a little more of something here and there. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. 🙂 Lesson learned? If it’s not broke, don’t try to fix it? haha!! 😉

Ha, nope you are not too late, I will be blotting shortly:) I was on a chicken salad kick awhile ago and I accidentally used Miracle Whip instead of Mayo which I don’t like at all in chicken salad. I was so mad I may have wasted chicken and ruined my salad, I blotted that chicken for at least a half hour, my husband thought I was nuts:) But hey it worked!:) Agreed, totally should have put in less to try it out and the if it’s not broke don’t fix it sentiment! Well I’ll let you know how they end up tasting, thanks for the response!:)

At last! Buffalo Chicken with the sauce baked into the chicken. I love the flavor of Buffalo chicken, but hate, hate, hate ruining (at least IMO) perfectly good fried chicken by pouring sauce over it. This is brilliant, and exactly the recipe I wanted. Nikki, you’re my new best friend. I think I’ll take you to the circus! You’re not afraid of clowns, are you? 🙂

I made these for a book club gathering and the ladies loved them! I used the precooked, canned chicken from Costco and it worked really well. The prep is a little time consuming and can get messy but it is well worth it in the end. A couple friends asked me for the recipe at the end of the night.

Found your site thru a pinterest pin.. but would love a few more of your stuff.. but hard to sift thru alllllllllllll the pins on pinterest.. suggestion…. can you add a pinterest button to your individual posts.. would love that feature.. seriously love your recipes and everything!! 🙂

Hi there! I do have a Pinterest button on my individual posts. There are a few ways you can do it. First, over the left side of each post is a “Share This Post” area with a few button options of ways to share your favorite recipes. The first button is the Pinterest option. Another way to do it is when you hover over a photo, a “Pin It” option appears at the top of the photo. Click to pin! 🙂